A few years ago it was very common for prisoners to be able to pay to have their photo taken in order to send them out to family members. Some prisons also allowed this on a visit so that prisoners could have a photo of themselves with their family. However, in 2013, this was temporarily stopped by the Ministry of Justice so that they could hold a review in the wake of many prisoners uploading photos to facebook which had been taken illegally on camera phones which had been smuggled in.
The review found that the official taking of photos could continue and all prisons were notified that they could restart this procedure with immediate effect but Wakefield had different ideas and they did not restart this practice at all.
Thanks for keeping us in the picture. Job titles seem to have changed a lot but the same frustrating petty bureaucracy seems to be eternal (and infernal). By *governing governor*, I guess you meant the Governor not Assistant Governor or Deputies.
Yes, I probably should have explained that there are many governors in prisons, acting as department heads for the most part, such as security governor, residential governor, segregation governor, etc. Then you have the governing governor, also known as the number 1 governor, and the deputy governor, or number 2.
I forgot that *No1* is the correct term but, from what you say, nothing much has changed.
Hi Adam, I have been on two family days this year at Frankland. The 1st one we had our photo taken but i couldn’t have copy, only my other half could? On the 2nd one i took his mum over to visit and again we had out photo taken. This time as well as my other half i was also allowed a copy, but only one, and i had to sign a contract of data protection that i would not put it on any social media network or make any copies of it. Therefore his mum, who he has not seen in 4/5 years could not have a photo of herself with her son. Obviously.. i adhered to the rules and everyone is happy lol
It’s really good to hear that you’re still getting up to see him, and that you’ve managed to get on the family days. It’s a shame they have to be awkward about the photos sometimes though. You’ve noticed I now have a photo up. This was taken at another prison, not Wakefield. They still haven’t let me take one here. I’m not giving in though!
Hi Adam, your blog is great, my partner is in Wakefield too and told me to read it. I am constantly nagging him about photos as I have heard other prisons do them on general visits as well as family days. It really are all the little things that make a difference. I really hope Wakefield pull their finger out on these kind of things.